Locks which have a rotary latch and a pawl are known from the prior art. Under heavy loads transverse to the direction of opening, the rotary latch and the pawl disengage, with the result that the lock could open prematurely in the event of an impact.
German Laid-Open Application DE1948907 describes a vehicle door lock which has a rotary latch and a pawl. The rotary latch has a latching projection which, in the event of deformation of the housing, forms a positive-locking joint with a side wall of the housing in order to prevent the door from opening. However, the disadvantage with this solution is that the rotary latch must additionally be provided with a latching projection, the only function of which is to form a positive-locking joint with the aperture in the housing in the event of deformation of the housing, e.g. in the event of a crash. This entails a greater effort on production, resulting in an unnecessary increase in production costs.
A vehicle door lock which has a rotary latch and a pawl is likewise known from German Utility Model DE202005005689U1, in particular the illustrative embodiment shown in FIG. 19. In this solution, the rotary latch has two latching projections, which are aligned perpendicularly in the direction of the housing, in order to form a positive-locking joint with the apertures in the housing in the event of a crash. In this case, however, the housing is not deformed; instead, the rotary latch is tilted by virtue of a predetermined bending point B on the holding element which supports the rotary latch.
This solution has the disadvantage that the holding element has to have a predetermined bending point. This in turn is associated with a greater effort on production, which increases design costs.
The prior art also includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,164A, which discloses a vehicle door lock. In this solution, the housing has a projection which, once again, forms a positive-locking joint with a projection arranged on the rotary latch in the event of deformation of the housing in order to prevent the door from opening. In this vehicle lock too, however, increased effort on design is required since the rotary latch and the housing have additionally to be constructed with a projection.